Employee Share Sale Boosts Market Value
OpenAI has reached a record $500 billion valuation following a $6.6 billion sale of shares held by current and former employees, according to Bloomberg. The deal marks the highest valuation ever achieved by a privately held company. Purchasers included major investors such as SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX, and T. Rowe Price.
Unlike a traditional funding round, the proceeds went directly to individual shareholders rather than the company itself. Still, the sale serves as a powerful retention mechanism for OpenAI, which has recently faced aggressive talent poaching from Meta’s AI division, including multimillion-dollar offers to lure engineers.
Growing Fundraising Momentum
The share sale follows OpenAI’s $40 billion fundraising round in August, which valued the company at $300 billion. That round included many of the same investors — SoftBank, Thrive, Dragoneer, and T. Rowe Price — alongside Blackstone, TPG, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz.
OpenAI’s ability to attract capital has been critical as it pursues one of the largest infrastructure investments in tech history. The company has pledged to spend $300 billion over the next five years on Oracle Cloud Services, a commitment far exceeding its current revenue. However, its fundraising momentum, combined with Nvidia’s recent $100 billion strategic investment, suggests that the spending plan may be achievable.
Microsoft Partnership and Legal Uncertainty
The deal comes just weeks after OpenAI signed a non-binding agreement with Microsoft that many interpreted as a step toward becoming a for-profit entity. That transition has not yet been confirmed by the courts, and the new secondary share sales could complicate the process if the conversion is delayed or rejected.
The structure of OpenAI’s ownership and its hybrid nonprofit-for-profit model have long been a point of debate among investors and industry observers. With $6.6 billion in employee-held shares now in circulation, questions remain about how ownership will be reconciled in the event of a corporate restructuring.
Rapid Growth Despite Heavy Spending
OpenAI continues to scale its product launches and revenue growth at a rapid pace. Earlier this week, it unveiled the Sora 2 video model and an accompanying social media platform, further expanding its product ecosystem. The company reported $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025 but also burned through $2.5 billion in cash over the same period, underscoring the high cost of AI development and deployment.
For now, the latest sale reinforces investor confidence in OpenAI’s long-term position at the forefront of the AI sector. But with fierce competition from Meta, Google, and Anthropic, and the uncertainty of its legal structure, the next stage of the company’s journey may be as complex as its technology.
